Do pigs perspire?

 

Why is maintaining a healthy body temperature essential for the pigs' well-being?

 

One of the most misleading idioms in the English language is "sweating like a pig," which may conjure up mental pictures of sweat flowing down the skin of a pig on a hot day. However, "sweating like a pig" is just a figure of speech. Pigs only have a limited number of functional sweat glands, which is why they only produce a small amount of sweat. Furthermore, the small amount of sweat they produce does not significantly impact their body temperature. So, how do pigs regulate their body temperature?

 

Pigs are endothermic, often known as warm-blooded, which implies that regardless of the temperature of their environment, their internal body temperature remains consistent. Endothermic creatures almost always have a body temperature higher than the temperature of their surrounding environment. In contrast, ectotherms, often known as cold-blooded creatures, rely mostly on heat sources that come from the outside, so the temperature of their bodies shifts in tandem with the temperature of their surroundings.

 

Animals may control the temperature of their bodies in two ways: through their metabolism and behavior. One method of thermoregulation happens quite quickly, but the other one can take quite some time. This is the primary distinction between the two.

 

Dan Tucker, a professor of veterinary public health at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, says, "the metabolic method of thermoregulation is really rather slow."  In this scenario, a hormone that is produced by the thyroid gland and is known as thyroxine helps govern the fundamental metabolism of the pig. This is the process by which the body converts the calories consumed into energy. In their own right, metabolic cycles are the source of heat. As shown in a paper published in the journal Physiological Reviews in 2006, these cycles can be switched on or off by thyroxine to generate additional heat or cool down the body when pigs are exposed to consistently hot or cold temperatures over days or weeks. The paper was written in 2006.

 

In contrast, behavioral thermoregulation can assist in cooling or raising body temperature in a considerably shorter amount of time than traditional methods. According to Tucker, who spoke to Live Science about the topic, pigs lower their body temperature by wallowing in water or mud when the weather is hot. This has the same effect as human perspiration. The pig's temperature decreases when the water or dirt covering its body evaporates off it. Pigs may also seek out shaded regions, or they may "conduct the heat out of their bodies by lying flat down on a cool surface," as Tucker explained. Even pigs need to cool off by panting. Panting stimulates air passage and promotes the evaporation of water from the lungs, both of which increase the amount of heat expelled from the body.

 

According to Tucker, several subspecies that belong to the larger family of pigs reside in "more temperate portions of the world, where they expend more energy on keeping warm than keeping cool." Pigs will cluster together for warmth during cold weather, make nests, or shiver during this time of year. This is a behavior that is typically seen in piglets just hours after they have been born.

 

Pigs will eat less food when subjected to warmer temperatures since it causes them to feel uncomfortable. According to Tucker, this is another strategy for cooling down, as the heat created while foraging, eating, and digesting is reduced when a smaller amount of food is digested. The size of a pig's body is a factor that plays a significant role in its ability to thermoregulate: According to Tucker, little pigs have a "lower ratio of surface area to body volume and, consequently, a lesser surface area for heat to be lost" through their skin, but giant pigs have "a larger ratio of surface area to body volume and hence a larger surface area for heat to be lost." Farmers that breed their pigs selectively for rapid growth and more efficiency in meat production will therefore find a greater prevalence of heat stress in their herds due to the larger size of the pigs they raise.

 

Should pig farmers be concerned about the consequences of climate change, given that hotter settings can force pigs to eat less, which can lead to smaller pigs? Average world temperatures are rising, which raises the question of whether or not pig farmers should be concerned. According to a study published in the journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, heat stress can lead to a reduction in the quality of sperm produced by boars, a reduction in the size of litters produced by sows, and an inability for sows to become pregnant. Pigs can suffer from hyperthermic shock, basically just a collapse of their cardiovascular system, if exposed to high temperatures for an extended period of time. This can also cause the immune systems of pigs to become compromised. They experience a reduction in blood pressure, which can cause unconsciousness and even death if not treated.

 

According to Tucker, "After chicken meat, pig meat is the second most consumed type of meat in the world." According to Tucker, farmers are responsible for examining the growing risk of heat stress not just because it affects the value of their herds but also because it is a matter of animal welfare.

 

Where did the expression "sweating like a pig" originate? The phrase derives from the operation of smelting iron into other forms. According to a report from the McGill Office for Science and Society, when molten iron is poured upon the sand and allowed to cool, the resulting shapes resemble a sow and her piglets. When the temperature of the air around the metal hits its dew point, tiny beads of moisture start forming on the metal's surface. This "sweating" sign that the metal, sometimes known as "pig iron," is now safe to touch.

Article source : https://www.livescience.com/32118-do-pigs-sweat.html

Image source  : https://pixabay.com/id/illustrations/panas-musim-panas-matahari-834468/

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